Louder Than Life Artist Feature: Parkway Drive – The Rise of a Sleeping Giant

There are thousands of bands out there and yes, I try to listen to as many of them as I can, but alas, I cannot. There is just not enough time in the day, and I have to be honest here Shockwavers; Parkway Drive is one of those bands that had eluded me. I knew them by name only, never having the chance to even listen to a song. That all ended for me last summer while driving around listening to my satellite Octane channel 37 when “Vice Grip” popped on and just completely blew me away. “What is THIS?” I said to myself as I turned it up even louder. I hit the text button and sure enough, Parkway Drive it read. What have I been missing? When did this come out? Have they always sounded like this? These are just some of the questions that quickly rushed through my head as I listened to this brutal, guitar heavy punishing song. Next up was doing my homework on the world wide web and finding out more about them. Five studio albums?! Been around since 2003?! Yes. I had been living under a rock not knowing this band until that day that song came on. So, without further ado, here is a short history about Parkway Drive if you have been living next to me under that rock.

Hailing from Australia and making music since 2003, Parkway Drive took their name from the street where their home rehearsal space and live venue, ‘The Parkway House’, was located. Their first album, Killing with a Smile, was produced by none other than Killswitch Engage’s main man Adam Dutkiewicz. Fast forward to 2015, their latest, Ire, where “Vice Grip” is taken from, went number one in their homeland and number 29 in the US. With a brutal and crunching two guitar assault, Parkway Drive put out a sonic gem which made me go and get their other four releases to play catch up on this band. Now for 2016, Parkway Drive will be re-releasing Ire as a deluxe edition with two bonus songs, one being “Devil’s Calling,” which was written post the release of Ire. “The lyrics came as a response to the growing tensions we are seeing worldwide,” said lead singer Winston McCall. “It was written as a protest song; we see it, we all see what is wrong.” This band is just growing bigger and bigger with no signs of stopping. In the fall, Parkway Drive will be embarking on a North American headlining tour with Counterparts and We Came As Romans as support, and look for them performing at the Louder Than Life festival October 2nd in Louisville, Kentucky.